Htms-05801:37:34 Min Page

It was Sarah. She had "Ascended" three years ago. The official word was that archived souls couldn't communicate with the physical world, yet here she was, her voice sounding like static and starlight.

Elias sat in the sterile white light of the Transfer Bay. According to the readout, he had exactly thirty-seven minutes and thirty-four seconds remaining of his biological residency. After that, his consciousness would be compressed into a data stream and archived—a process the government called "Ascension," but everyone else called "The Fade." HTMS-05801:37:34 Min

... He reached the basement. It was filled with the roar of massive liquid-nitrogen fans. It was Sarah

The stairwells were a blur of concrete and shadow. Every time he glanced at his wrist-comm, the numbers mocked him. ... He reached the mid-level security gates. Elias sat in the sterile white light of the Transfer Bay

"There’s a bypass," she whispered. "HTMS-05801 isn't an archive code. It's an exit port. If you can reach the cooling vents in the basement before the clock hits zero, you can jump the firewall." The Descent